Works for voice, lute, and virginal by the 17th century Italian composer Francesca Caccini. Caccini was a celebrated singer, lutenist, composer, poet, and music teacher of the early Baroque era. She is recognized as the first woman to compose opera. Her opera, La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina, is one of the few of her works that survive today. The selection of vocal works on this program is from Il primo libro delle musiche (1618). Her solo songs are full of dramatic harmonic surprises and melodically fluid melismas.
Salomé Sandoval, mezzo soprano and lute, and Christine Gevert, virginal and organ.